Why Did Ancient States Collapse?

Rooted in agriculture, sedentism and population growth, ancient states were fragile and prone to collapse. There is an ongoing debate about the importance, nature and even existence of state-wide collapse. This book investigates why ancient states collapsed and examines to what extent inequality contributed to their downfall.

Following a career in economics, Malcolm Levitt completed an MA in Archaeology at the UCL Institute of Archaeology in 2018. Since then, he has concentrated on deepening the theoretical basis of his dissertation on why ancient states collapsed and to what extent inequality contributed to their downfall.